Developing countries like India are facing the problem of protecting the environment and promoting economic development. An appropriate trade-off between environmental fortification and economic development is the need of the day. A careful estimation of the benefits and costs of environmental compensation is necessary to find the safe and sound limits of environmental degradation and the required level of development. The accountants in India are aware of the fact that environmental issues will affect business and industry, and have thus started the practice of the use of environmental accounting along with the final accounts.

Description

In the present era, the responsibility and dependability towards environment has become one of the critical areas of social accountability. The alarming signs of ecological crisis and environmental degradation are visible everywhere. The major environmental changes and environmental degradation is taking place primarily due to deforestation, soil erosion, land degradation, water-logging, inundation, draught and changes in occupational structure. It is a global phenomenon. It devastates human health, reduces economic efficiency. As a matter of fact, both man and environment are the inseparable component of the cosmic whole. They may be considered as the two sides of the same success coin from the survival point of view. A business enterprise being a corporate citizen as well as an economic performer, has the most intervening responsibility to make the genuine and possible use of its resources, both human and material.

The developing countries like India, are facing the problem of protecting the environment and promoting economic development. An appropriate trade-off between environmental fortification and economic development is the need of the day. A careful estimation of the benefits and costs of environmental compensation is necessary to find the safe and sound limits of environmental degradation and the required level of development. Therefore, the need of environmental accounting has emerged. The accountants in India are aware of the fact that environmental issues will affect business and industry and they are influenced for putting into practice environmental accounting, along with the final accounts. The article is an attempt to have a general idea about the practices of environmental accounting in India.